Method of flushing.



l water.

erase raamt-craintif HARRISON r. CRONK, .or` new YORK, N. Y., AssreNOR'rorcRONK-SALTRR oo lvirnivr, or

NRWYORK, 1v. Y.; A CORPORATIONOF NRW YORK.

METHOD OF FLUSHING.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented NOV. 5,1918.

... Application led December 26, 19161 Serial NO.`138,994.

refuse-'ushing purposes it is ofV importance in I many openations to'utilize this force Veco-` nomically '.with the least possible loss of.

' Accordinglyonelof the objects of the ineV if'ention is to 'flushasurface; of itsv refuse matter 4with ian amount ofl flushing liquidrelatively small compared tothe mass of ref-` use tov bei-moved andtoythus effecten economy in thense offliquid Wherever such flushinnsvamused. a

Ain order to defineA therbasic principle underlying' the-faction` of theforces utilized to yefeetA the objects desired attention is called tothe situation where a stream of vwater fallsA per]) endicularly onto aflatV surface, such, for instance, as the water falling in the kitchensink` from thev faucet.A This water forms a thin circular film orskin-like covering which extends vradially from the point of contact ofthefallingstream on to the surface and thecircular .area of this skinor'iilrn is outlined by an irregular wave formation or rather a fringeof broken water particles which have no definite direction of movementand accordingly no readily available forcecornpouent. f p

` All other kconditions being equal and Considering that thewaterstrikes the surface norrnalto its plane, it is obvious that the` orrather to slice under a mass of material having a weight .andinertiaconsidera'bly greater than the inassof Water acting on thematerialiv This. action of the water film eventuallycompels theobstructing mass of refuse or other material to move inthe direction. ofmovement .of the water film acting thereon the water .film acting` as acradle or Sledge for. .the moving mass.` Considered in another aspectthe.water film. may be reg-ardedas a lubricant in'which thezbottom layerengages .thereceiving surface, the top layer. supports the moving massVand theintermediate layer. or. portion constitutes the real ylubricantor relatively moving particles. Ipropose to utilize this .power-ful,skin actionbutto conserve@V direct. and control the force of this waterskin ,action that it Vmay have adefinite directional flow, so as to: getfrom. the force in-.a limited. amount of. water, its maximum sweepingeffect before it is broken `up vinto its force dissipating fringe.

One means .for efiectingthisl economy in use.y of .thevvater is. toeliminatel those :portions-of Vthe stream whicharenot definitelyconcerned in its'required hydro-dynamic; action, or .perhaps statingitinere definitely, to direct the water, `the force of which wouldotherwise be wastedintofthat portionofthe stream which will doeffective,.woik.` Accordingly, instead of directingthe stream to fallonto the receiving. surface 'perpendicu-` larly thereto as previouslyconsidered, the stream maybe directed .tangentially on. to the surface.As the direction of fall moves from the` perpendicular direction towarda line paralleling the plane of the surface, the water skin area willtend to distort from its circular formand will approach an elliptical orrather an eggshape configuration 'with but small *lateral.movementA Inythis way'V the given force inherent in the falling water instead ofspreadingover portions ofthe area not occupied by the matter to benioved,A

`isdirected along'a relatively longiline yso that pratically the entireavailable forceis directedr against the matterdisposed inthe path of themoving water film. In a crude aspect of the invention this may beattained by directing the Water in a single stream Vat a low. angle ontothe refuse supporting surface slightly in rear ofthemass oflrefuse to bemoved,

A better result is attained, however, if two streams forming an angle ofless than 180 with the apex of the angle at, or preferably in rear ofthe base of the refuse to be moved, is directed onto the surface.Keeping lthe streams separated until they have almost reached the objectto be moved has the eect of conserving the pressure energy of eachstream until it can act on the object. This method, as thus far outlinedmight be practised by two persons provided with a couple of buckets ofwater who would stoop close to the ground and simultaneously eject thecontents of the buckets tangentially onto the surface at a pointslightly in rear of the'refuse. Vhile the method might be thus crudelypractised the real economy in operation is effected by practising themethod with instrumentalities which will permit of a definite locatingof the stream directing means and a definite control of the pressure andcharacter of the ejected streams.

The process is best practised by locating two nozzles, water ejectors orsimply iiuid outlets, arranged to direct their streams in the form ofbroad flat shots of water converging at an angle of about 30 to eachother, and under a pressure suflicient to cause the refuse matter actedupon to move the requisite distance along the surface before the forceof the unitedv stream has been dissipated. It must be emphasized thatthe water is ejected in the form of liquid shots of short duration butunder high pressure. A quiet owing continuous stream, such as is usualwith the flush o-ut types of toilet bowls is ofno value` in solving theproblem of economy in the amount of flushing fluid necessary to propeltherefuse matter. The effect of this action is to cause the streams tomeet and when viewed in plan, the central portions of the united streamswill be seen to have lost their lateral movements to a large extent andthe center of the united stream will be somewhat deeper than the outeredges of the united stream and deeper than each of the compositestreams; The united stream takes it forwardly projected course along thegeneral resultant direction of movement and acts on the object to bemoved, first, by raising a miniature opening under the same and thenforcing its way completely under the object to entirely raise the same,even though it may possess some material weight. As the object continuesto resist the water force it dams up behind the object and theperpendicular wall of water continues to eX ert its hydro-dynamic forceas the water walls up until the perpendicular weight of the water plusthe acquired water pressure horizontally forces the mass inthe directionof least resistance, said) resistance being minimized bythe yunder layerof water acting as a cradle or Sledge.

Obviously, the smaller the angle between the ejected streams, thegreater will be the propelling force of the united stream but with aunilateral stream there will be more of a pushing or flooding eect of amoving body of water rather than the forceful lifting effect of a skinof water which is one of the features of this invention.

1f a slight resistance is oered to the free flow of the stream at apoint at or in advance of the object or mass to be moved a moving wallof water will be formed momentarily having a velocity slightly less thanthe velocity of the succeeding portion and a relatively high column ofwater is formed in rear of the refuse to enhance the lifting effect ofthe skin action.

Further the invention contemplates the use of a stream in addition tothe two streams described. This third stream is di# rected to flow inthe same general direction as the resultant direction of flow of the twoangled streams.

The invention has thus far been described without reference to thecharacter of the refuse receiving surface and as a matter of fact thesurface may be at or channel shape. As the primary object of theinvention, however, is to effect an economy in the use of the flushingliquid the refuse receiving surface preferably should be designed toassist in the conservation of the force of the liquid directed thereto.One means for effecting this object is to wall off the circular skinportion hereinbefore described with reference to the water falling intothe Sink so as to eliminate splatter and to confine the length of refusereceiving surface to the radius of the circular skin portion. In thisway the area of the surface acted upon is limited and of course theamount of necessary water is minimized.

This water skin has another aspect. It

has been noted that when the vertically falling stream strikes a surfacewhich can be worn away as when water from 'the leaders of a house strikesoft ground a depression is formed which merges into a series oftroughs, each of less depth than the preceding trough. Considering thefirst depression it is found that any foreign matter, such as sand isquickly swept therefrom by the falling water.` It has been foundexperimentally that by using a refuse receiving surface having a longsweeping curve trough as suggested and directing the two streams asdefined longitudinally along such a surface the most perfected method offlushing has been attained. With a variation in the mass of the refuseto be moved, ordinarily a slight increase in the mass of watercomprising the shots should bev made but it is of more importance, whenpossible, to increase the pressure acting on the shots to the pointnecessary to move the refuse the desired distance. `Where the normalmass to besmove'd' Fis" co'lstantL and JWher'et-h'e Water pressure isfalso constant as `Where the VWater vand-*Water closetflo'ovvlsbutthesedevices are ymerely suggestivefifthsi places Where such a.- methodfmay be ipractised;

Oneset ofinstru'mentalities by means of Which= the 'pro'cessf hereindisclosed may be practised'isillustrated in the accompanying Vdrawingsin Which- 'Figure lis fafside elevation ot anV arrangementi of VKliquidejecting devices, acting upon a mass of refuse which is desired: to bemoved; f f v FigsaQ'isia planview looking down upon the Earrangementshown' in Fig.` ll andl 'after the Water-'shots 'havestruck the surface;and? i Y A v Figi' `3 "isi a longitudinal 'sectional; 'View through aportion of aflushed surface While a Waterrghet; is' spreading 'overthe-surface.

`Inthe'fdraii'finggithereisfshovfn a mass of refuse =3 mounted' iup'on'a supportinpjsurfacev 41-5 which may be' considered 'as horiz'ontalljirdisposed or, to illustrate af further refinenientofthe process,f1nay beinclined* up# Wardly'at aslightangle tothe horizontal.

A pairrofaliquitl ejecting devices 5 and 6 inthe vvform of gunsare sodisposed to the rearl ofv the-refuse'- and With'their nozzles sodirected thatf'thejshotsv of* Water W` or other -liquid :passedtherefrom are designed to pass thev` san-1ealcltigqfiYc'rnwergingL'paths forming 1 an fangle olf-lessi than 17800121@ indi cated" 'bythe'- d'otted lines;l The shots ot liqui'dwmeet thef-y surface `at ornrefcrably `j ust in rearoi' the basezotth'e massor'f riehif-e to hemoved-.` Itis imei-ely required that Vthese twoffguns" be=diSp0sedaboveV the surfacef4. it being understood that the inclination of the'nozzles'tovvard the: surfacd the inclination towardeachbther and theforce with which the liquid' shots are Vprojected ywill. obviously,depend upon' the character of the surtace'` to be flushed, uponth'eecharacter and.' mass offfreilus'elto be moved and uponthefdirectionin WhichA it is desired to move thewrefuse: YTo illustratea further refine-l ment of the/"methodlit'may be `consitiered that thenozzles ci` theguns-are designed to eject the-.shotsin the 'torn-i ofanni bolt culastant-i'allyY rectangular "in erosslsection'.

'In Aorder tovshoiv the-disposition of a meansfon-formingaathird streamor rather shotv ofiliquid havingthesamegeneral di'- rection of movementas the rcsultffint direc'- tio'n `oi'llow of theftWo-angledstreams,oreviouslyzment-ioneeli, a third liquid ejectinn; means. 7'Cin the formoit "a -gunrisshown in position tedirect its shot' inzztle generali-lineremain the' same, some constant "e'iectiii'u' Y" x force may besubstituted for the' variable pressure inherent in the manual adtiiationof the mechanisms illustrated and sonic' Vautomatically actuatedmeasuringdevicesuch asa flusholnetei" may' be used in place of the'syringes illustrated. ln general the Vcharacter of instrumentalitiesutilizdfto `practice the lmethod Will depend upon `the purpose for Whichthelnethodl is utilized. l

Inoperation, theg'uns 5 and' ajre'p'oiiited toward the basefof themass'oftrefuseso 'aste direct thechargs from thegunsfin the {generalvdirection in'wliicli it' is desired tocause the'reiiuseitolhe'movedllIl more cfa propelling than a lifting` force `onthe refuseis desired,thenthe' nozzles arefrloweredfto'ward the surface to` be flushed andinto a position extending' substantiallyparalle] to the surface andconversely the rear ends of the nozzles are raised from thep'ositionshovvn'in Fig.' l so as .to Vdeoendit it is tlif liftingA force whichlis `artic i l larly.r desired.: Should? it be desired" to effect lacombined lifting auditor-ning movement of the refuse-, thenAl oneV ofthe' guns'is pesiti'oned at a higher level than th other'. As economy inamount of liquid used'fis the primary considrgition.` then in caseswhere aheavymass"ofrefse is tobe moved'vith the" same-[mass or"V lij'uidshotuse'd with a relatively li qhter massVV of refus@ a greaterejectingpressure'must be imposedon the relatively light I mass "of Iliquid fshoti. It thel total available force is 'in'suiiicientto effectthe desired movement-of the mass of refuse. thenobviously annincifeaseinthe mass of propelling-liquid mustbemade in order to obtain; thmomcntum'(I'nass times acceleration) necessaryto effect the desiredmovement ofthe refuse. In the organization illustrated this increase inliquidnassmay be effected by increasing the eliarc'cof liquid drawn*into the syringes m* by using larger size'- syringes.

ln some situations. as Von railroad cars. there is available a source ofhigh pressure as in the exhaust steam line,` but the'ava'iL ableamountvotviliishing" liquid is usually limited und therefore it issolnetiinesquitc economicali kto use very high nres'surejon a; smallmass of liquid. li this''smallVv ot liouid is. projected at highvelocity' and care is taken to direct the saine'Y sofas to utilize theskin effect to felei therefuse, Y a=rel'a'i'iv-il'yfY largeniassofref'us Inajf'be ibo ieu

propelled even with a small amount of iushing liquid.

In order to obtain the most effective propelling results, care must betaken that there be no obstructing forces present.

When it is necessary to receive the refuse in a liquid pool of any kind,this pool should be of the least possible depth and mass for it tends toblock the action of the flushing shots before they can reach the mass tobe moved and thus reduces the etliciency of the method. l

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. In the art of liushing hydraulically, the method which consists indirecting two streams of water toward the refuse matter to be hushed andalong paths converging toward each other laterally of the generalresultant direction of movement of the two streams when united, wherebyportions of the streams will meet adjacent the refuse matter and tend tolift the 'refuse matter as it is swept in the general 'resultantdirection of movement, causing said refuse matter to be subjected to theaction of a third stream of water moving in the general resultantdirection of flow, offering slight resistance to the free flow of saidrefuse and water whereby a moving wall of water will be` formed having avelocity slightly less than the velocity ofthe succeeding portions ofsaid united streams thereby to cause the accumulation of a wall of waterhaving a hydro-dynamic force sufficient to move the mass of refuse withthe least possible amount j of water.

, 2. In the art of moving a body of refuse along a refuse receivingsurface, the method which consists in directing a small portion ofliquid suddenly and forcibly onto the surface at a relatively low anglethereto and contacting therewith at a point slightly in rear of the baseof the body of refuse to be moved, said small portion of liquid having amass less than the mass of refuse to be moved and having a pressuresucient to cause the skin of liquid thus formed on the surface to slidein under the body of refuse and to lift the same into the resultingmoving stream.

3. In the art of flushing refuse matter along a refuse receivingsurface, the method which consists in directing a pair of streams towardeach other laterally ofthe general resultant direction of movement ofthe two streams when united whereby portions of the streams will meetadjacent the refuse matter and coact to raise the same off the surfaceas the refuse matter is swept in the general resultant direction ofmovement of the united streams.

5. In the art of flushing a surface of a mass of refuse disposedthereon, the method which consists in directing a plurality of fluidstreams toward one side of the base of said refuse mass with certain ofsaid streams forming an acute angle with each other whereby the meetingstreams will act on the refuse mass to raise the same off said surfaceand to move the same along said surface.

6. In the art of flushing a Surface of a body with refuse disposedthereon, the method which consists in directing a pair of fluid streamstoward said refuse atan angle to each other at an angle to the surfaceand meeting behind the body of refuse to be moved.

7. In the art of flushing a surface of a body of refuse disposedthereon, the method which consists in directing a pair of fluid streamstoward said refuse, said streams meeting at a `point in rear of the bodyof refuse and at an angle to each other and di recting a third streamtoward said refuse and along a line substantially bisecting the angleformed by said iirst named pairs of streams. 8. In the art of flushing asurface of a body of refuse disposed thereon, the method which consistsin simultaneously subjecting opposite or substantially opposite sides ofthe refuse body adjacent its bottom with a fluid pressure meanscomprising a plurality of separate liquid shots, each having arelatively small mass and acting on the refuse along lines formingangles less than 45 to the surface, thereby to raise the refuse off saidsurface.

9. In the art of flushing a surface of a mass of refuse thereon, themethod which consists in directing a shot of liquid on to said surfaceat a point adjacent the mass, in a direction toward said mass and at anangle to the surface less than 90, said shot of liquid having a massless than the mass of the refuse to be moved and having a forcesufficient to move the mass of refuse.

10. In the art of flushing a surface of a mass of refuse thereon, themethod which consists in projecting a liquid shot downwardly andforwardly onto said surface adjacent one side of the mass to be moved,said shot having a mass less than the mass of said refuse.

11. In the art 0f flushing a surface of a mass of refuse thereon, themethod which consists in projecting a liquid shot downwardly andforwardly onto said surface adjacent one side of the mass to be moved,Signed at New York city in the county of said shot having a mass lessthan the mass of New York and State of New York this 28th said relfusezlmoll1 subjecting1 said lquidhshot day of November, A. D. 1916. to a reatve y igh propel ing force W erer 5 by the relatively small massconstituting the HARRISON T' CRONK' liquid shot Will possess relativelyhigh pro- Witness: peiling momentum. CHAs. H. Hom'.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

